By Violeta Rocha
Special to The Texas Catholic
Like a seed that continues to bear fruit, the legacy planted in the Diocese of Dallas by the Missionary Catechists of the Poor was celebrated April 21 at St. Monica Catholic Church.
The celebration included a Mass followed by a reception, during which diocesan priests, members of Pastoral Juvenil Hispana, and parish ministry representatives surrounded the sisters with gratitude, joy, and affection.
A total of 14 religious sisters traveled to Dallas from Arkansas, Kansas, and Monterrey, Mexico, to take part in the tribute.
Among them was Sister Silvia Garza, MCP, remembered for her accompaniment of Pastoral Juvenil Hispana and her service at communities in the Diocese of Dallas, including Blessed Sacrament Catholic Parish, Good Shepherd Catholic Parish, and Santa Clara of Assisi Catholic Parish.
“Seeing that they continue to sustain the faith of their parishes is to see that it is worth continuing to be a missionary and to carry the message of salvation to those who need it most,” said Sister Silvia, who is currently based in Monterrey.
“The sisters did great work in catechizing but above all in giving love, especially in a country far from our family,” Father Cruz Calderón, pastor of St. Cecilia Catholic Parish, said during his homily.
The priest recalled the support he received from the sisters 18 years ago when he was part of the youth group at St. Edward Catholic Parish and discerning his vocation.
“Thanks to a conversation with a sister, I decided to enter the seminary,” Father Calderón said, “and here we are, happily celebrating the gift of the vocation of the catechist sisters.”
Cultivating vocations
Parishioners from various parishes around the diocese gathered to pay tribute to the sisters, whose order marked 100 years of apostolic and evangelizing work this April.
Founded in Monterrey, Mexico, by Bishop José Juan de Jesús Herrera y Piña and the Italian religious Sister Angelina Rusconi, the congregation is dedicated to catechesis and service to those in need.
The sisters served in the Diocese of Dallas from 1960 to 2017, coming to the diocese at the invitation of then-Bishop Thomas Gorman.
Sister Mickey Espinoza, MCP, director of Hispanic ministry in the Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas, said her vocation began in 1976 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Parish in Dallas.
“I saw how they worked with us young adults, with families, and it caught my attention to know why they had come to work from Mexico to Dallas,” she recalled.
Sister Guadalupe Flores, MCP, who helped found the matlachines dance ministry at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, celebrated that 25 years later the ministry continues to serve new generations.
“That is the best sign that it is Christ who planted and that it is he who is sustaining it,” she said.
Father Antonio Liberman, parochial vicar at St. Edward Catholic Parish, who served alongside the sisters between 1996 and 2002 at Santa Clara of Assisi Catholic Parish, offered prayers for more vocations.
“The affection of many who learned from them and their total dedication to service is the hope that, in the future, vocations will arise among young people,” Father Liberman said, “because we need them to move forward and to be able to reach another 100 years.”
A dream and a mission
The founding of the San Juan Diego Catholic Parish grew out of the sisters’ service at St. Monica Catholic Parish with the support of then-pastor Msgr. John Meyers and is considered one of the most significant fruits they left for the Hispanic community.
San Juan Diego began as a mission in 1994, serving a small but growing community. In 2006, it was erected as a quasi-parish, and in 2010, it attained the status of a diocesan parish.
Lupita Frausto, director of faith formation at San Juan Diego, said 1,000 children come weekly for catechism, another seed she said was planted by the sisters.
“They taught us to bring Jesus to all those around us,” she said.
Through their ministry, the sisters “changed lives,” including her own, said María Gonzalez-Rocha, director of faith formation at St. Monica.
“My work is a mission and an apostolate that I have thanks to the blessing of having lived and worked with them,” she said. “Today, their charism remains alive in all these communities and in the thousands of young people who have crossed paths with one of them.”
Editor’s note: A version of this story first appeared in the May 2026 edition of Revista Católica Dallas, the official Spanish-language magazine of the Diocese of Dallas.
Cutline for featured image: Sister Norma Edith Munoz, MCP, far left, and Sister Mickey Espinoza, MCP, interact with Maria Rocha, right, director of faith formation at St. Monica Catholic Parish, following a Mass celebrated to honor the Missionary Catechists of the Poor on April 21 at St. Monica Catholic Church. Rocha holds a collection of flowers after being thanked for organizing the Mass that celebrated the religious order’s 100th anniversary. (BEN TORRES/Special Contributor)
